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Every week of the 2009 PGA Tour season, the editorial staff of the SI Golf Group will conduct an e-mail roundtable. Check in on Mondays for the unfiltered opinions of our writers and editors.
Alan Shipnuck, senior writer, Sports Illustrated: I suppose we have to begin at the Buick. There's nothing in golf more boring than Tiger Woods holding a multi-stroke lead during the final round because we all know there's no way he's going to cough it up. Sure enough, he closed out his 69th career victory (!) with clinical precision. And yet Saturday was one of the most entertaining rounds of the year thanks to Tiger's outrageous scrambling. What did you all make of his performance this week?
Michael Bamberger, senior writer, Sports Illustrated: I know what you mean, Alan, but still, I was awed by it. We're seeing something the likes of which we've never seen before, this level of domination. I find it mesmerizing.
Farrell Evans, writer-reporter, Sports Illustrated: Tiger will probably win six times this year, but he will not win a major. There is no pressure on him at Buick or the Memorial or the FedEx playoffs. The majors must feel like a bulldozer on his shoulders.
Damon Hack, senior writer, Sports Illustrated: I don't know what was more interesting, watching Tiger or the strange gaggle of golfers from the witness protection program chasing him. You had bigger names at the U.S. Senior Open — Funk, Norman, O'Meara, Sindelar — than you did in Flint. Nobody pushed Tiger all day. It was game over from the time he put on his red shirt Sunday morning.
Shipnuck: Not that he cares, but Tiger is now the Player of the Year front-runner thanks to four victories. But it's funny how, owing to his own exacting standards, his whole season comes down to one week. Win the PGA and it's a great year. Don't win and the whole season was a waste. You have to wonder if he gets any joy from a win like today's, or is it just part of the pre-PGA checklist?
David Dusek, deputy editor, GOLF.com: For the fourth time this season Tiger won two weeks before a major. Sure, his short game looked sharp, but none of his inexperienced pursuers looked like they had any chance to track him down on Sunday. I'll be very curious to see what we get from Tiger next week at Firestone against a field consisting of 49 of the world's top 50 players.
Jim Herre, editor, Sports Illustrated Golf Plus: Greg Norman had his Saturday Slam, should we dub Tdub's wins at Bay Hill, the Memorial, the AT&T and the Buick the Fortnight Slam?
Shipnuck: I think even Tiger was a little bored today, which is why he tried that crazy-ass shot from behind the tree on the par-5 13th. He over-cut it into the water but still saved par, no doubt the most memorable sequence in an otherwise forgettable final day.
Hack: Today was like North Carolina v. McNeese State in the first round of the NCAAs.
Dusek: Except that McNeese State starts that game tied 0-0 and can call time out. No one keeps the pressure on like Tiger.
Bamberger: I don't agree with the ho-hum, check-it-off-the-list idea. In addition to the checking account, there's Nicklaus and Snead. He loves that record he has for consecutive cuts. There's every reason to think getting to 82 career wins is a critical goal, too. Can MJ say he is the greatest basketball player of all time? Not really. Can Ted Williams say he was the greatest hitter of all time? Not really. I think Tiger would love to own every aspect of the record book so there can be no debate (except the one about the quality of his competition).
Hack: Faldo made a great point on the broadcast when he said Tiger will save a lot of trees in the future since golf's record book will only have two words: Tiger Woods
Dusek: I disagree with Farrell about Tiger at Hazeltine. He'll win there.
Herre: Tiger still has issues off the tee, but considering the competition, he has to be the favorite at the PGA.
Shipnuck: Depends on the rough. He hit only 11 fairways on the weekend at Warwick Hills. You can get away with it there but probably not in more penal weeds. Firestone is tight and twisty and usually set up pretty tough, so I agree it will be a good test of where Tiger's game is.
Dick Friedman, senior editor, Sports Illustrated: On the other hand, this kind of loose-on-the-lead win can be a confidence booster, especially with that sizzling second round to get his ship righted.
Hack: Give Tiger credit for one thing. He knew he needed more reps, added the Buick (a place where he'd dominated in the past) and got it done. Can't imagine what the tournament would have been like without him. Yikes.
Rick Lipsey, writer-reporter, Sports Illustrated: Unless Tiger can go from slapping hooks, fades and sky balls off the tee to hitting lasers, he has no chance at Hazeltine. A week at wide-open Bridgestone (the course where he won after banging it off the clubhouse roof) won't tell us anything. We'll know how major-ready Tiger and his tee shots are only when he gets to Hazeltine.
Dusek: In that case, we don't know if ANYONE is major ready. Ogilvy, Casey, Furyk, Singh, Westwood, Garcia ... They've all been inconsistent this year. And is there any way to guess how Phil Mickelson is going to play over the next two weeks? Tiger will be as ready, or more ready, to win at Hazeltine than anyone else.
Bamberger: All Tiger has to do to win the PGA is shoot a lower score than anybody else. It doesn't matter where he does it from. How many guys are actually ready to play 72 holes and shoot a lower score? Not a whole lot. As Picasso had his Blue Period, maybe Tiger is in his Seve Period, where he wins from anywhere.
Lipsey: But as we saw in the first three majors, Tiger doesn't win from "anywhere" in majors. Buick, Memorial, yes, but not majors.
Evans: Those days of Tiger winning from "anywhere" are over. He hits more off-line shots than ever.
Dusek:Statistically, that's not true. Going into this week Tiger was hitting 63.45% of the fairways. Last season he averaged 57.86% and in 2007 he averaged 59.83%. He's down in GIR from 71% to 66.5%, but off the tee, he's better.
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